Justice Department antitrust chief says AI companies must compensate artists

STANFORD, Calif. – The Justice Department’s top antitrust watchdog issued a warning to artificial intelligence technology companies on Thursday, warning that they could face regulatory action if they don’t find a way to fairly compensate artists, performers and other creators.

“If companies in the artificial intelligence ecosystem violate antitrust laws, the antitrust division will have something to say about it,” Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said at a Stanford University conference attended by artificial intelligence researchers, executives and other government officials.

The conference focused on the economic impact of generative artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT and the potential application of antitrust laws to them. Kanter said one area of ​​concern is creator pay.

“What incentive will future writers, creators, journalists, thinkers and artists have if artificial intelligence can mine their ingenuity without adequate compensation?” – said Kanter. “The people who create and produce these inputs need to be compensated appropriately.”

The warning comes as tensions rise between artificial intelligence companies and artists. Last week, actress Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of using an “eerily similar” voice to hers in its new GPT-4o chatbot after she rejected the company’s request to share her voice.

The use of AI-generated voices and images in films, television and video games is a constant source of conflict in labor negotiations in Hollywood and the broader entertainment industry.

Artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI and Microsoft, have also faced a number of lawsuits, including from authors and media outlets such as The New York Times, over their use of creative works to train their models, while other media outlets have chosen to sign content deals with AI companies instead.

Kanter did not say the Justice Department would take action soon, but said the department was paying close attention to developments in the industry.

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“At antitrust, we are actively examining the AI ​​ecosystem, both through our policy work at events like this and through our enforcement efforts,” he said.

“Monopolization of upstream markets or creative works is monopolization, whether a large language model is involved or not,” he said.

Kanter was joined in his concerns about competition by Věra Jourová, vice president of the European Commission, who also spoke at Thursday’s conference. She warned against high barriers to entry into AI, such as computational costs, which could favor large companies over start-ups.

Appointed by President Joe Biden, Kanter has pushed an aggressive antitrust agenda, including against the technology industry. The Justice Department has sued tech giants including Apple and Google and joined forces with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to create a task force on alleged price-fixing.

Kanter said the Justice Department has potential authority to act under an antitrust principle called monopsony, which occurs when a buyer in a supply chain has so much power that it drastically lowers prices and reduces the incentive to produce. Monopsony is the mirror image of monopoly, which occurs when a seller has such consolidated power that he raises prices, which can sometimes raise legal questions.

“In the absence of competition to ensure creators are adequately compensated for their creations, AI companies could exploit the power of monopsony at levels we have never seen before, with devastating consequences,” Kanter said.

He said his concerns ultimately lie with the future of free speech, “which is the most influential and beautiful form of human innovation.” But he also said similar questions apply to medical patients “whose health data is fed into massive artificial intelligence models” and “journalists and news outlets who are essential to our democracy.”